Thoughts and commentary about the janitorial and office cleaning business.

08/02/2017

Nix the sponge

Seems your kitchen sponge harbors bacteria - "lots and lots of bacteria". Research published in Scientific Reports identifies, among others, close relatives of the bacteria that cause meningitis and pneumonia, so we're not just worrying about the common cold here.

I even had a picture of sponges, on a sink.

It makes sense. Sponges have lots of nooks and crannies to shelter critters; it seems they also develop a biofilm on the surface to provide even more breeding ground.

So - can't you clean them? I'd heard, some years ago, that a minute in a microwave would kill everything living in your dishrag, so I do that regularly with rag and sponge (or at least as regularly as I do anything these days). But it turns out that the microwave process produces more robust bacteria; as Darwin noted (though not in respect to microwaves), under stress, the weak die, the very strong (those best adapted to the given environment) survive, to reproduce. it's a bit like ending the antibiotic treatment when you began to feel better, rather than when you use it up. Or like over-prescribing antibiotics.

The only good way to insure yourself a sanitary kitchen sponge? Go buy a new one. I'm thinking of doing so. I'll have to see how often I can come up with 79 cents.

I shall pass this on to my commercial cleaning customers as well. They mostly have sponges in the lunchroom sink, with lots and lots of people contributing to the bacteria population, and I'll bet nobody ever thinks to toss and replace the sponge. Or the dish rag.

We've offered janitorial services in Phoenix since 1974; hold the BBB's A-plus rating; and have long been in the forefront of the industry in environmentally sensitive cleaning for health, safety and security. Our office cleaning program can generally improve Indoor Air Quality, in the size range of most allergens, by a factor of 50%, as reflected in our ongoing IAQ sampling. We also furnish Green Seal certified recycled restroom paper products and janitorial supplies.